"I said it was increasingly dangerous for asylum seekers on the island and the humane policy should be to bring them to Darwin from Christmas Island for processing," she said.
The hearing was deemed by refugee advocates and lawyers representing the asylum seekers as a victory.
He denied Australia's harsh treatment of asylum seekers at detention camps on Nauru and Manus Island could count against the former prime minister.
But the former NSA contractor has not been granted political asylum, which would have allowed him to stay in Russia permanently.
The government is hoping to reinstate temporary protection visas, which provide asylum seekers with only three years' protection and deny the visa holder the right to be reunited with their family.
Labor introduced a controversial "no advantage test" on 13 August last year in an unsuccessful attempt to stop asylum boats from coming by insisting that those applying for refugee status in that way received no benefit compared with those who stayed in refugee camps in the region.
And it came as the new prime minister Kevin Rudd also said he was worried that the constant arrival of asylum seekers by boat would see "the fragmentation of support" for Australia's migration system.
Scott Morrison's response to the exposure of asylum seekers' details on the immigration department's website was a "horrible mistake" that had made the situation worse, the chairman of the Australian Privacy Foundation says.
Related: Julie Bishop unable to convince Iran to take back asylum seekers Bishop was seeking Iran's support in the returning of rejected asylum seekers to their home countries.
She's said she wants a bipartisan approach to asylum seekers – what is she going to do, call Tony and Kevin into her office and sort it out?
In the text category, Taylor Auerbach of the Daily Telegraph has been nominated for his reports on slum landlords and Amnesty international, and Guardian Australia's own Michael Safi has been recognised for his reporting on terror and asylum seekers.
